Beauty

When it comes to style and being an original… The Dutchess herself, Fergie has it. Her incredible sense of fashion has been an evolving door since her arrival on the scene as the newest member of The Blackeye Peas. Bringing her Latina flavor she has always wowed us with her exquisite beauty. It really doesn’t surprises me that she would come out with a makeup line of her own. And teaming up with an old school favorite for many women and young ladies…wet n wild is a stapler in the beauty world and you get great products at attractive prices that’s gentle on the pockets. The quality has gotten much better over the past few years, new look and attitude better products at prices everyone can afford. High-end quality with low-end prices…YAYYYY! WHO DON’T LIKE THAT!

Fuchasianista

Today I picked up this amazing lipstick. Like I said before, not a huge lipstick fan-yet, some things makes you take a second look and this lipstick did it for me. I absolutely love Wet n Wild and low and behold this AWESOMELY SEXY SHADE (FUCHASIANISTA) is from the Fergie Center Stage Collection…daring, playful, sexy, cute shade that is to die for.

I found a few more delicious shades to choose from, but this one stole my heart. Fergie has something going on with this line. Checkout her 2013 Holiday Collection and you’ll understand why this Center Stage Collection is worth it. Fuchasianista will definitely put your lips and look CENTER STAGE.

You can find this and all the wet n wild beauty line at Walgreens, CVS these are the only places I have found wet n wild.

Borghese Lip Crayons Review

When Borghese Cosmetics wanted to send over a set of their lip crayons for me to try……how could I refuse? I mean…..seriously what a perfect fit! This set of lip crayons has quickly become one of my favs! They have tons of vitamins, and left my lips feeling super hydrated. Plus, the colors? Vibrant, and perfect for the holiday season. Truffle is a stunning nude, ideal for holiday shopping. Nectar’s light pink color is perfect for Christmas Eve, and time with family. Bella’s plum color is a great fit for caroling, and my personal favorite, Rosette is a great red for holiday parties! I love the variety, and know I’ll be using these as part of my regular lipstick rotation!

Water composes around 60% of your body weight. Nearly every system of your body needs it to function properly, and yet, many of us are not getting enough on a daily basis. Dehydration can easily sneak up on you and trigger serious, even life-threatening medical conditions. Educate yourself on the warning signs and hydration tips to keep dehydration danger at bay.

Can you honestly say that you take the time each day to hydrate properly? So often hectic schedules prevent us from not only making sure we are drinking enough water, but also from noticing the signs of dehydration. Ignoring these symptoms can lead to severe and dangerous scenarios. Read on to learn the tell-tale symptoms of dehydration.

Dehydration Dangers:

Dark Urine Your urine should be clear; if looks like tea when you go to the bathroom, you’re dehydrated. For more on healthy pee, click here.

Dry Skin If your body is dehydrated, it will do everything it can to hold onto fluids. Your skin is the first place to be robbed of water. Major indicators of dehydration include skin that is less plump and flexible, sunken eyes, dark circles or dry lips. Assess your skin with a skin turgor test; pinch a fold of skin on top of your forearm. If this pinch and stays up in a tent, there is not enough water volume behind your skin.

Dizziness When your body is dehydrated, it is harder to distribute water. Dizziness can occur when you go from lying down to sitting or standing. The upright movement causes water to rush away from your heart and brain, which makes you dizzy.

Constipation Your body absorbs water from your intestines and draws moisture from your stool. This makes them hard, dry and difficult to pass.

Here are ways that you can make sure you’re getting enough water.
Hydration Helpers:

Know When to Drink More When you do something that raises your heart rate, like exercising, you lose water. Counteract this loss by drinking an 8-oz glass of water per hour of activity.

Drink 1 for 1 Caffeine dehydrates your body. For every cup of coffee or tea you drink, have 1 glass of water too.

Get Your Water From Food Many fruits and vegetables are rich in water – the juicer, the better. Watermelon, papaya, cucumber and celery are great choices because they have water, sodium and potassium, which are all needed to prevent dehydration.

Beat. Face. Honey:
From Instagram to Nicki Minaj’s Makeup Artist

How one social media queen turned ‘likes’ into a career

By Melanie Yvette Martin Editorial Assistant, Ebony.com

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Tatiana Ward

Aside from her makeup skills, Tatiana Ward’s greatest gift may be her ability to believe in the most extraordinary possibilities—and make them happen. Only four years ago, she was a YouTube makeup maven, dying to be discovered. But instead of waiting for anyone to believe in her, she took the matters into her own hands. From building a million plus following, to recruiting fans to bombard celebrities like Brandy and Nicki Minaj to give her just one shot at “beating” their face, Ward also known as “BeatFaceHoney,” is living proof that, seriously, anything can happen.

EBONY: How did you go from You Tube, to Instagram, to becoming Nicki’s makeup artist?

TW: It’s funny because my Instagram isn’t all about makeup, but my YouTube is. It’s about me and my life and my thoughts. But, a girl posted on one of my pictures saying, “Hey, I read on Nicki Minaj’s blog that she needs a makeup artist in New York. I know you’re in Philly, but you should try.’ My gears got to turning and I said all right, well, here’s round two. I went to the blog to read it for myself and I posted the caption of what she’d said and told my followers that, “If ya’ll could get me Brandy, you can get me Nicki.” I went to my Twitter and saw a sea of my name and her name in my mentions saying “Let Beat Face Honey do your makeup.” It was crazy. I call my viewers “The Beat Face Brigade.” They are just this army of good souls that God gave me to elevate me.

I didn’t even have an agent. You don’t get Nicki Minaj by not having an agent. It doesn’t happen that way.

EBONY: Your Instagram brand is very specific. You always aim to inspire, create and uplift. I think that’s another reason Nicki was comfortable working with you.

TW: It astonishes me more so now. Nicki actually called me personally. I gave her my contact information. When she called the first thing she said was, “First of all, how do you say your name?” (Mimicking Nicki’s accent perfectly). And I said “Ta-tee-yah-nah”. She said, “Alright, do you have my makeup?” I told her “Yes.” And she was like, “Alright. I’m going to get somebody to call you in a couple minutes and I’m going to get you to New York and we’re going put you up (in a hotel), and I’m going see if I like it.” Child, I ran out my door screaming—and I live in the hood in Philly.

EBONY: So once you got to New York, what happened?

TW: I went to New York and I was sitting in the hotel lobby. Safaree (her assistant) came downstairs and said “You did your makeup?” I said “Yeah.” He said, “I like it. She’s going to like it. Just chill. Don’t ask a lot of questions and don’t bother her. Just do your job.”

EBONY: So is makeup your first love?

Tatiana Ward: To be honest, music is my first love. By the time I was in 10th grade, I had a record deal and was recording an album. But I’ve been doing makeup for four years. I started in Atlanta and now I’m all over the place. I feel like I’ve had 9 lives! But I really have many talents; I think we all do. It’s just that make-up has always come second to music. The thing I’ve learned is: what God has for you, he has for you. My last attempt at singing was in 2005 when I auditioned for American Idol. They aired my audition and I made it to Hollywood and then got cut right away. I had to figure out after that what I was doing with my life so, I moved to Atlanta.

EBONY: It’s funny how your purpose can be streamlined together in the strangest ways.

TW: That’s why you just have to listen to God and watch the signs. Because your plan may not be his plan. But, I ended up exactly where I was supposed to be because I knew that I liked showbiz. I knew that I wanted to be involved in showbiz. I thought that I was supposed to be an entertainer but really, I was supposed to assist entertainers.

EBONY: Which is still a very big role, maybe even bigger than the entertainers themselves at times.

TW: We’re at the frontlines. A woman’s confidence is everything to her and how she feels about herself before she leaves the house is everything. It can make or break your day, so it’s a big role when you’re behind the celebs.

EBONY: Okay, so let’s get a little bit more background. Where did the makeup journey begin? What happened once you moved out there?

TW: I moved to Atlanta after I got cut from American Idol, and I started bartending and decided if I’m not going to do music, then I have to do something else that I really with my life. So I got into makeup and I started working at a makeup counter, just trying to learn. Then, I moved back to Philadelphia where I’m from, but the only place I could get a job was at the strip clubs. That was the best experience—I worked at Delilah’s and I worked at Risqué. The strip club is where I really learned my makeup skills.

EBONY: But why was the strip club your best experience?

TW: Any type of girl would walk in on any given day. It could be an Asian girl who wants green glitter, or a White girl who’s on heroin and nodding out and she wants you to fix whatever—it was just any type of girl, any time of makeup.

EBONY: Before Nicki, you actually did Brandy’s makeup and you have an interesting story behind getting to work with her, too.

TW: March of last year, I found out Brandy was going to be in Philadelphia and I got the gumption to ask my followers on YouTube for help to get a social media rally going for me to do her makeup. Similar to what I did for Nicki. Oddly, I had already met her. We have a friend in common and he introduced me to her. I was able to meet her and tell her to her face, “I really want to do your makeup.” She was like,
“Yeah! Totally, sure.”

When I found out the concert was coming, I asked my friend if he spoke to her fiancé just to put in the good word. But, they’re crazy busy and nobody is thinking about the makeup artist from Philly. So, I figured, I’d just have to take matters into my own hands. I was sitting in my living room folding laundry and I got the crazy idea to ask my followers to go harass her.

I just posted this video, and I was like, “Guys, I really want to do Brandy’s makeup. If you could tag her and tweet her and just continue to ask her, it would be awesome.” It would be no way she wouldn’t see my name.

And they did. I think maybe, two days before the concert, she commented on one of my pictures and said “Will you do my makeup for my show on Friday?’” That’s when I lost it! I did her makeup and she invited me to dinner that night. I came back twice to do her makeup again.

EBONY: But the craziest part about your story is that we can scroll through your timeline and see where you began and where you are now.

TW: That’s the beauty of it all. You can go back through my Instagram to a year ago and see me talking about my $1,300 car that broke down and how I had to walk to work.

EBONY: Your life is a future bestselling book, I hope you know this. What’s next for you, you think?

TW: I’m thinking about taking it easy. I’m so blessed to have this. I don’t know where this could go because I feel like I’ve gotten the best already. I feel like Nicki Minaj teaches me something new in every single way, far beyond makeup. I’ve learned how to conduct your business. She’s not just a rapper. She’s a businesswoman. That is such a lesson. Just because you got on in one way doesn’t mean you have to stay there. Makeup is absolutely my passion, but I’m not limiting myself at all. I love makeup, I’ll never leave makeup, but I know that the story doesn’t stop there.

EBONY: What was your first ever mess-up with her?

TW: The first time I ever did Nicki for a show, she turned to me and said, “Where’s the mirror?” I said, “I don’t have a mirror.” She goes, “Oh, so you mean to tell me you’re a makeup artist and you don’t have a mirror?” But, before her, I was just doing strippers and we had a mirror in the dressing room. I didn’t have to carry a mirror around. She has given me such patience. I’m learning these lessons with seasoned people who are giving me nothing but patience because they see that I’m talented and they see that I’m hungry. God just gave me the right group of women—all Black women—and they’re helping me and they know they’re helping me. That is such a blessing.

CureDiva: The First Lifestyle Site for Woman Coping with Breast Cancer

This new site helps women live stylishly while coping with breast cancer

When you combine empowerment and support with revered fashion and style for women battling breast cancer, you get CureDiva.com. It’s the only extensive online solutions site for women coping with Breast Cancer and beyond. With one out of eight women suffering from the disease, their mission focuses on helping women at every phase deal with all of their lifestyle needs. CureDiva offers a personable social shopping experience which attempts to revolutionize their femininity and give “the Divas” their self-esteem back.

The site is tailored to offer real life solutions to women’s problems, according to her particular phase of breast cancer treatment. If you just want to shop for comfort and style, CureDiva has that covered too. Whether you only need a flattering wig or something more pressing like radiotherapy wraps, it’s all just a click away. More notably, CureDiva creates a community for cancer patients and survivors to talk to one another on a personal level through forum discussions, a “do and don’t” listing, recommendations and tips entries.

While co-founders and creators Ester Gofer and Efrat Roman may not have found the cure to breast cancer, they’ve certainly created a timeless solution to ease the process of their fellow breast cancer survivors and patients during one of the most difficult times in their lives.

The Black Beauty Maven to Know: Kim Roxie

The success story of this cosmetics entrepreneur is nothing short of amazing as she talks her line, LAMIK cosmetics

Her journey began like many of ours: a young Black girl dreaming of being something amazing. But once she hit college, Kim Roxie, founder and owner of LAMIK Cosmetics, discovered her passion in life. She started off just making lip-glosses, then realized she was fabulous at it. From there, the beauty entrepreneur (whose line is now sold in Macy’s) created a full family of eco-chic makeup primarily catered to women of color. The busy bee stepped away from the counter to share some of her inspirational light with EBONY.com.EBONY: I’ve known about LAMIK Beauty for so long and never knew until about a year ago that it was owned by a Black woman.

Kim Lamik: It’s funny, I didn’t start releasing that I even founded the company until about two years ago. So it’s not crazy that you did not know. A lot of my customers that would come into my store for so many years started seeing stuff on TV and in the media. They were like, “What?” I started at 21, and what’s interesting to me is: right now being an entrepreneur is good, but it wasn’t that way a few years ago. Meeting a young entrepreneur and taking them serious was an issue. So I kept it under wraps that I was the founder.

EBONY: How did you get started in the cosmetics industry?

KL: I wanted to live in Atlanta, so I went to Clark University. My freshman year, when everyone was concentrated on school, I was working. I couldn’t afford to just be there. So I got a job at the mall doing make-up. I had never done makeup before, but that is where it all started. Then my senior year in college came around and I asked myself, “What are you going to do when you grow up?” I started looking at what I had and what I could do, and I began making lip-gloss. I figured this is what I’m supposed to be doing.

EBONY: Why did you decide to cater to women of color?

KL: I felt like the representation of the beauty industry and what people classified as beautiful was not me. I know some of my customers are way darker than me. This is why I started LAMIK. LAMIK is an acronym that stands for Love and Make-up in Kindness. Everything you do, you should do in love and kindness.

If you could get off your distractions, every moment of your day becomes focused.

EBONY: How did you get past feeling outcast from the beauty business in terms of representation?

KL: It’s really something when the whole world has to agree on what you’re saying. A lot of times we are waiting on somebody to validate. So for me, I feel like I’m a role model. A lot of my encouragement comes from inside the community. I know these girls are looking up to me. I know grown women are looking up to me. I know I must do what I have to do to make our beauty more normal in the mainstream, because it’s still not there yet. We have so much further to go. And part of my organization is to make this more normal. I always call myself the next generation of beauty. This is where beauty is going, this is where it’s at.

EBONY: Can you break down what it means to be the first eco-chic make-up brand?

KL: What eco-chic means is that we are eco-friendly because of a couple of reasons. One is because of our packaging; most of our packaging is recycled paper. When you’re actually using the product, we show you how to use it in a more eco-friendly way. So instead of having 20 different products, a primer, a this, a that, we show you how one product can be your primer, concealer and brow highlighter. So we are being eco-friendly in a sense that we are reducing how much you are consuming.

We also leave out the toxic ingredients like formaldehyde, lead. And we replaced those ingredients with stuff that is better and safer for you. That’s where the whole eco part comes in. So it kind of pushed that to a place where it’s not brown and green packaging, it’s pretty. It’s silver, white, pink. It’s very chic looking.

EBONY: What has been the biggest challenge in creating an eco-friendly cosmetic line?

KL: On a creative standpoint, it’s not that difficult creating it per se. The difficulty comes when you’re manufacturing. You have to work with the right companies and manufacturers so that you produce the product that you want. It might be a little bit more expensive and time consuming, but that’s when some of the difficulty comes in.

EBONY: When it comes to building a beauty brand from scratch, how do you begin? Where does it start?

KL: Well, I’m kind of all the way around. I’m almost like a chemist. Sometimes I do go into

the lab when I’m trying to make up colors. I’m also a licensed aesthetician and a make-up artist. I’m so all the way around at the same time. I believe you have to start with a vision, something that you have talent and a purpose for.

EBONY: I think we all feel like that our dreams are too big at times. But it’s true you have to begin with a vision.

KL: Who are you waiting for to show up? That’s not where real founders come from. Founders seek, find, and define what it is. Being comfortable with making definitions is really important. You can’t sit around waiting for someone. We have to get to a place where we realize that what we have as individuals is one of a kind. What you have is one of a kind and what you have is only something that you can bring to the marketplace and to the world that no one else can get credit for.

EBONY: When you mentor young women of color, what is the biggest detriment you find they face in terms of being their greatest?

KL: Distractions! There are distractions throwing you off your course. If you could get off your distractions, every moment of your day becomes focused. When I mentor, I’m always identifying the distractions so we can get into a good place and really move forward.

EBONY: It’s good to hear that fresh take. We look at women like you and think you didn’t have any problems on the way to success and it’s just this straight line to living your dream.

KL: I actually had to write out one of my girls’ schedule for her, because to her she couldn’t accomplish anything. She has a baby and other things going on, like most women in the world. I wrote her schedule and we figured out that she did have 40 hours to give to work and plus had a day off. We had to go through the whole thing. We are always looking at the things we don’t have, the resources we don’t have, instead of looking at what we do have. The only reason I can speak to you about distraction is because I’ve been distracted before. I can speak on that because I deal with it every day. Stay focused and everything else will follow. Your best days are ahead of you.

EBONY: I hope you continue to share that message with women who want to be great and achieve excellence.

KL: It’s about owning your greatness. Everybody is not called to be an entrepreneur; everybody is not called to be a journalist. Whatever your greatness is, you need to own it. Everybody is an entrepreneur in spirit of owning his or her greatness.

EBONY: What would you like to see happen in the beauty industry in regards to African-American women in the future?

KL: I want to see more businesses do business with Black women. I don’t want it to be so taboo that someone would do business with a Black-owned company in the beauty industry. I just went in Nordstrom and there was not one Black-owned cosmetic line there.

I was in Atlanta and the market is very Black. And I know a lot of times when you’re in Idaho, you might not find a lot of Black lines, because there aren’t many Black people. I understand that and I get the geography. But to be in Atlanta, Georgia, where there are a lot of Black people, and to not have one line that was Black owned didn’t sit well with me.

I want to see Black-owned or Black-directed companies doing business with these major retailers across the country, because there are department stores that are not doing it. It has to be done and I want to be a part of it.

We often use the expression “skin deep” to say something is a bit shallow, but in reality your skin is your body’s largest organ – which means taking care of it is essential for true head-to-toe health.

While you can’t stop the clock on aging altogether, you can slow it down considerably at your skin’s cellular level. And it may surprise you to discover that to do just that, you should spend as much time in the grocery store as in the beauty aisle for optimal results. Here are four secrets for how you can get clean, fresh, supple looking skin:

Master the Basics
Be sure to remember the basics: get at least seven hours of shut-eye each night, drink plenty of water to stay hydrated (your skin is about 70% water), use broad-spectrum sunscreen of at least 30 SPF daily, don’t smoke, and if you drink, do so in moderation. This is because UV rays, cigarette smoke and alcohol all accelerate skin’s aging, both in the matrix between cells, on the surface and at skin’s lower layers (called the dermis).

Eat Omega-3 Fats

Feed your skin well by including salmon, sardines, flax, canola oil, walnuts or fortified eggs on your plate each week. These skin superfoods are rich in omega-3 fats, a group of essential fatty acids that your body can’t make on its own, but which are the secret to helping skin stay noticeably more elastic, supple and radiant. Here’s how: omega-3 fats help provide a protective barrier to cells, enabling them to hold more water. They keep skin cell membranes healthy and supple enough to enable nutrients to get in and waste to be removed. They also to play a role in suppressing the body’s production of pro-inflammatory compounds, which can accelerate skin aging.

Opt for Orange-Hued Fruits and VegetablesCrave a tan? Skip the sun and reach for dark orange-hued fruits and veggies such as apricots, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes and butternut squash instead. Not only are they filled with the antioxidant superstar beta carotene, but a 2011 study found consuming several servings of brightly colored produce (surprisingly, beta carotene is also found in dark leafy greens like kale, spinach and chard) enhanced subjects’ natural glow and gave them the appearance of a warmer skin tone. Bonus points: these foods are rich in vitamin C, one of your skin’s main water-soluble antioxidants